Thursday, July 5, 2012

Plant Geek Paradise: West Tisbury, MA


People in Martha's Vineyard take their gardening seriously.  Though many don't go beyond climbing roses and hydrangea, others treat it like a competive sport.  It's obvious that gardens here are carefully thought out, often coordinated with the colors of the house itself. 

I expected Hansel and Gretel to appear at any moment.
During one of our confused, lost exploratory drives around the island, my friend Emilie and I discovered that one road in particular, West Tisbury Road, was full of garden centers.   Emilie made other plans, so I was free to explore without the guilt of boring her.

I started at Eden Market, in Vineyard Haven.  Although smaller than the others, it was fun to poke around.  A winding path took me through sections of garden decor, watergardens, perennial flowers and vegetables. 






The staff was super friendly and happy to point out which plants were heat tolerant as well as some really cool new kinds of echinacea.

 I shared a moment with this frog.

Heather Gardens

 My next stop was Heather Gardens.  This place had astounding variety and acres of plants.  I could have stayed there all day.  Props to the extra-nice owner Mike, who kindly took the time to dig up a (free!) hops root for me because they didn't carry them and he knew it was growing wild by one of the fences.  


"Galahad" delphinium.  On my wish list.
It was fun to stroll around, looking at the unusual plants and making notations for my wish list.   There was really too much to look at here. 








Middletown Nursery

Middletown Nursery had some incredible displays.  I was especially inspired by some rustic cages and trellises made from raw (pine?) that were placed throughout the store.  


A live band was playing in a shady area while kids did art projects and ate popcorn - such a nice vibe.

I know I missed at least one other garden center, but leaving something unseen is supposed to guarantee a return visit.

Eden Market
455 State Road
Vineyard Haven, MA
(508) 693- 5202
http://www.edenmv.com/

Heather Gardens
377 State Road
West Tisbury, MA  02575
info@heather-gardens.com
http://www.heather-gardens.com/

Middletown Nursery and Garden Center
680 State Road
West Tisbury, MA
508-696-02575



3 comments:

Ashling said...

Ooooo....I love roaming garden centers, and these look fantastic. Great photos!

garden girl said...

What fun! Love the cottage garden - definitely one of my favorite garden styles.

Those rustic pergolas and tee pees are fantastic. Gives me some ideas for the dead spruce tree we have to take down. Some of it will be ground into mulch, but I've been thinking about using some of the branches for crafts.

Anonymous said...

Hi there!
My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about West Tisbury to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Jane